Search

Dan Savage (the man behind the Savage Love sex advice column and podcast) has started a new project, called It Gets Better. It was inspired by the suicide of gay teenager Billy Lucas, after he experienced much bullying.

About the project:

If you’re gay or lesbian or bi or trans, and you’ve ever read about a kid like Billy Lucas and thought, “Fuck, I wish I could’ve told him that it gets better,” this is your chance. We can’t help Billy, but there are lots of other Billys out there—other despairing LGBT kids who are being bullied and harassed, kids who don’t think they have a future—and we can help them….

Do you have a story to share or a message to send to queer young people? Participate in the project and make your own it gets better video.

Transcript after the jump

Transcript:

I came out as bisexual to my junior high school. I’m not sure why or what possessed me to think that that would lead to social success.

I remember I was in a school play in 7th grade, maybe 8th grade I must have been 12 maybe 13 years old. Part of the play we actually came off the stage and ran through the aisles in the audience. As I ran down the aisles someone stuck their foot out and tried to trip me, and whispered dyke at me.

It gets better. It definitely gets better. I’m in my late twenties now, I live in Southern California, I have an amazing network of friends who are gay straight bi pansexual transgender and I don’t have to interact with the haters if I don’t want to.

You’re still going to hear things and see things and people are still gonna be dicks, because that’s what people do. But when you’re an adult it’s easier to carve out happiness. It gets better.

Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, is 43 years old. Yet huge disparities still exist in athletic opportunities for young girls and boys. That gap exacerbates inequalities in education, employment, and health. Not only are sports fun, but they promote girls’ success and well-being off the field. Girls who play sports get better grades and earn more wages in higher-skill positions. Black female athletes are more likely to graduate from college than their non-athlete peers. And youth exercise leads to lower rates of breast cancer and depression for girls.

Want to close the gap between girls’ and boys’ sports? Want to stand up for your rights as a young athlete? ...

Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in education, is 43 years old. Yet huge disparities still exist in athletic opportunities for young girls and boys. That gap exacerbates inequalities in ...

Yesterday’s episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver featured a segment on trans issues. You can watch the video below, followed by my commentary:

I am in many ways pleasantly surprised by what John Oliver’s show put together. They’ve done a great job both addressing poor media coverage and offering superior framing of a lot of other topics, but I tend to expect trans issues to be an exception. The segment is structured in a way I might have suggested: it starts with media excitement about trans celebrities and the notion that we’re having a trans moment before moving on to real issues. Oliver also quickly dispenses with discussion of language and invasive 101 questions that many folks get stuck on:

Transgender ...

Yesterday’s episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver featured a segment on trans issues. You can watch the video below, followed by my commentary:

In March, North Carolina’s House of Representatives passed HB 29, an education bill that includes a litany of requirements for how schools teach sexual health. It is riddled with contradictions, conservative ideologies, and scientific inaccuracies. Sadly, it will do little to improve—and, indeed might harm—the physical and mental health of young people across the state.

The bill requires that beginning in the seventh grade, all schools provide a reproductive health and safety course with a curriculum that is “objective and based upon scientific research that is peer reviewed and accepted by professionals and credentialed experts in the field of sexual health education.” Oddly enough, the requirements of the ...

Ed. note: This post was originally published on the Community site.

In March, North Carolina’s House of Representatives passed HB 29, an education bill that includes a litany of requirements for how schools teach sexual health. ...